Posted by diggin4third on 12/7/2013 9:01:00 AM (view original):Real bummed on McLouth leaving. He got 2/10.75 from the team we take a significant amount of television money from each year to likely fill the same role he would have had with the O's as a 4th OF. Although as of now he would probably be starting. I just don't understand the argument that we can't afford to raise the payroll especially when we currently have a window to win now and are certainly comparable to the Nats what we can afford.

I don't know how much stock you guys put into what Grantland puts up, but in their MLB trade value column we had 4 guys in the top 50. So 4 all stars are on bargain contracts and the front office still has no money to spend? If these guys were actually paid market value we would unload them like we did Johnson and return to the bottom of the AL East. This is the time to take advantage of our unbelieveable stroke of luck with guys like Hardy, Davis, Manny, etc. and Duquette and Co. are watching it pass them by.

McLouth is a 4th OF and is not worth the money the Nats gave him. O's fans are too sentimental over good guys like McLouth and Roberts and don't see how bad they are/have become.

My impatience is growing though. If this Balfour deal doesn't get done because the O's refuse to add a 3rd year, I'll be ******. There's a steep drop from him to other FA closers.

Still lots of FAs and time left though. I'm willing to be patient as long as I can and see where the team is in February.

No way. I'd be so ****** if my team gave Balfour 3 years. Find a set up guy and make him your closer if you insist on assigning one guy to 9th inning only duty. The A's just traded a 4th OF for Gregerson and there is a very good chance that Gregerson will be a better pitcher in 2014 than Balfour. The O's should go find someone like that.

I would MUCH rather have Balfour than be the team to experiment with what Gregerson looks like outside of San Diego, even in another pitcher-friendly home park. Balfour is old, but he doesn't have a ton of mileage on his arm, and his stuff still looks incredible. I don't think he's a value signing at the pricetag he seems likely to command, but he's not a money sink either. You want to allocate resources somewhere; I understand not spending your SP money this offseason, but adding at least arguably the best bullpen arm left on the market (Benoit?) can't hurt...

And then it's time to sack up and outbid the Rangers for Choo. This team is DESPERATE for OBP. Nobody gets on base. We're right up there with the Phillies in terms of wilfully ignoring the wealth of sabermetric information available today. Even some of the old-school guys - man of them - are at least accepting that OBP is the most important stat in the game. And here we are trying to build a lineup around Adam Jones, who walks about as much in a season as Barry Bonds did in a bad month. And explicitly told the media "he isn't paid to walk." The worst part is that, knowing the guys who structured his contract, he's probably right...

Nope. I'll take it. I'd definitely rather have Balfour, Weeks, Freitas, and cash than Jim Johnson, but that's just me... Still a lot of people out there that feel Baltimore lost that trade, I don't see it...

They have a plan. It reads something like "avoid spending any more of Peter Angelos' money as long as the league has guaranteed his ticket revenue equivalent to 3 million seats."

I have always defended Angelos' spending habits to other O's fans, but this offseason it just can't be justified. We have a window right now and we're just straight-up blowing it. I get that there isn't an ace-caliber SP on the free agent market this year. Maybe save your pitcher money for next season. But I would have loved Cano. And I would love Choo. But I'm not going to fool myself into thinking we would ever even consider making a serious offer to FAs of that caliber. And if you really want to sack up, use our top pitching prospects to bring us Chris Sale or David Price. We need a guy who can be our #1 starter right now, this season. If you want him bad enough, we have the tools to get him.

Give it a bit more time. O's have filled their closer and LF needs and added another solid BP arm in Webb. Assuming Flaherty or Schoop starts at 2B and they go with a mix of Lough and what they have in LF, that means they have a lot of money now to invest in the two biggest holes: SP and DH. If they can get Morales or Cruz to DH and add one good SP, this offseason will be a success.

Well, Balfour is gone. O's doctors bailed, other docs saying he's fine. Balfour apparently is ****** and called Duquette personally. I'm interested to know what the O's saw that put such a scare into them.

I'm intrigued by Rodney. His surface stats didn't look good last season at all, but his splits tell a different story. He only allowed runs in 3 ballparks last season: Tropicana, Rogers Centre and Dodger Stadium. He held the O's, Sox and Yankees to .129, .167 and .190 BAs, respectively. And he didn't allow a HR after June.

Also hearing rumours of a trade for Papelbon, with Philly eating half, which would end up being cheaper than the O's were paying for Balfour. We'll see what happens.

I'm just extremely disappointed by what's happened this offseason. For some reason, for the first time in years, I allowed myself to buy into the BS propaganda they were spewing about making the team better for next year. I'm sorry, but letting McLouth walk and trading away Jim Johnson and replacing them with Webb, a Rule 5 guy whose former team obviously didn't want him on the ML roster, and a bunch of guys who are going to be battling for a place on the active roster, does not make the team better. It makes it worse. It really feels like the Balfour deal got nixed because the team rethought the spending. This offseason has turned out very similarly to every offseason in recent memory - not an optimistic feeling coming with that realization.